East West Petroleum Audited Annual Results (Ending March 31, 2022)

All information is available at www.sedar.com

 

Symbols: EW (Canada) – EWPMF (USA) – 37A (Frankfurt)

Prices: $0.105 CAD - $0.848 USD - €0.058

Shares Outstanding: 89,585,665

Options: 2.79 Million (Between $0.06 and $0.135)

Warrants: Nil

 

Financials (In Canadian Dollars)

 

ASSETS

Cash: $5,145,788 - $0.0574c per share

GST Receivable: $3,649

Amounts Receivable: $38,870

Oil Inventory: $265,867

Prepaid Expenses: $39,292

Property, Plant & Equipment: $236,425

Total Assets: $5,729,891

 

LIABILITIES

Accounts Payable: $355,037

Decommissioning Liabilities: $1,185,985

Total Liabilities: $1,541,022

 

Allowable Capital Losses: $8,440,000

Non-Capital Losses Available For Future Periods: $28,550,000

- Canada: $17,329,000 from 2026-2042 & New Zealand: $11,221,000 No Expiry Date

 

Updated Information From Management Discussion

 

*Important Notes*

- Cash increased $269,284 between Q3 2021 and Q4 2021

- Q1 2022 financial results will be released end of August 2022

- Impairment charge of $1,627,056 in 2021 on leases that were not going to be worked on

- NIS/EW Deal in place for a cash/royalty deal on their Romania asset

 

New Zealand

 

During fiscal 2022 Cheal conducted a detailed prospectivity review of PEP 54877 and advised the Company that the forecasted economic prospects of PEP 54877 does not meet Cheal’s internal risk criteria. Although no final decision has been made to relinquish the permit in December 2022, the Company has determined to record an impairment of $1,627,056 for costs incurred to March 31, 2022.

PMP 60291 is the location of the Cheal E-Site and the Cheal E-site production facility as well as the Cheal-E wells. A waterflood program is ongoing however the efficacy of the program and its impact on production is an ongoing item of debate. The Company’s technical advisors have stated that there is no unequivocal evidence that water injection through the Cheal-E7 well has had a significant impact on production from PNP 60291 but that there is evidence to the contrary. The Company’s advisors attribute the production performance to other factors than injection through the Cheal-E7 well. The determination whether the waterflood utilizing Cheal-E7 as the injector well is creating the positive response in production impacts the Company’s obligation to fund its 30% share of the costs of acquiring the Cheal-E7 well, being 30% of NZ $3,200,000. No funding has been advanced, and no funding will be advanced until the issue is resolved.

The Company produces its oil and gas production from five wells on the Cheal-E site. On October 24, 2020 the ChealE1 pump stopped functioning due to downhole blockage and, as a result, production ceased from the Cheal-E1 well. As the major producing well, the stoppage of the Cheal-E1 well had a major impact on the Company’s share of production. In mid-January the Operator managed to pull the rods out of the Cheal-E1 well with a crane, cleaned the well and replaced the pump. However, only limited production resumed in mid-January 2021 without annular flow. In addition, in early March 2021 the Cheal-E2 well stopped working and several attempts to restart the well over the following three weeks were unsuccessful. Workovers of the Cheal-E1 well and the Cheal-E2 well were not completed until early August 2021 including the clearing of downhole wax and sand issues. The workovers were successful in re-establishing production in both wells. A trial of a two-stage downhole pump in Cheal-E1 proved to be too vulnerable to sand production issues and was replaced with a single stage downhole pump as previously employed. This is working reliably and an increase in flow was successfully implemented in Q3/2022.

As a result of the continued Cheal-E1 stoppage and the addition of the stoppage of the Cheal-E2 well, oil and gas production was significantly less from October 2020 to early August 2021. Only three wells, the Cheal-E5, E6 and E8 were fully producing for Q1/2022. During Q2/2022 all five wells the Cheal-E1, E2, E5, E6 and E8 were producing.

During Q4/2022 the Company produced 18.3 Mbbl oil and 11.6 Mmcf gas. compared to 19.5 Mbbl oil and 15.1 Mmcf gas during Q3/2022. The decreases were a result of both the Cheal E-5 and Cheal E-6 wells going offline for the last month of Q3. The Cheal E-5 went down due to a downhole related issue which appears to be parted rods. Workover planning is currently underway with a full workover being scheduled for the end of Q2/2023. The Cheal E-6 went offline due to downhole related issues which appears to be a wax plug. The operator carried out rod work and installed a new pump while the well was off line. The Cheal E-6 started back on-line near the end of March 2022.

 

Romania

 

The four concessions have specific mandatory work programs (the “Romania Work Programs”), which were estimated at US $63,000,000 for all four programs. Production from the concessions is also subject to royalties of between 3.5% to 13.5% based on quarterly gross production payable to the government

As operator, NIS has reported resumption of exploration and production activities in the EX-2, EX-3, EX-7 and EX-8 exploration blocks in Romania. EWP has a 15% carried interest during the commitment work programs in all four blocks which includes for the drilling of a total of twelve exploration wells (three per block). It should be noted that all activities are dependent on securing the necessary government and local approvals.

 

Blocks EX-2 and EX-3 

 

Interpretation of seismic data has continued although no commercially viable exploration prospects have been identified to date. NIS has proposed to request an extension of the exploration periods beyond the contractual maximum of ten years while the prospectivity of the blocks is under review. No commitment wells have been drilled to date in either block. 

 

Block EX-7 

 

Two phases of testing have been performed on exploration well BVS-1000. Despite fracture stimulation in the second testing phase, oil production from the well has rapidly declined to currently around 30 bopd. NIS consider the well has invalidated the pre-drill subsurface geological model and re-interpretation of the prospect is underway prior to a decision to either suspend or abandon the well. Deviated appraisal well, Teremia-1001, drilled on the Teremia North Field, has been completed as a production well after a period of experimental production testing. All work program commitments in the block have been met. 

 

Block EX-8 

 

Testing of exploration well Pesac-1000 has been completed although with negative results. Deviated appraisal well Teremia-1002, drilled on the Teremia North Field, has been completed as a production well after a period of experimental production testing. Exploration well, Teremia-1201, was drilled to test a possible extension to the Teremia North Field but failed to encounter hydrocarbons. It was subsequently sidetracked into the Teremia North Field in 4Q/2021 and has now been completed as a production well and renamed Teremia-1004.

 

There have been several meetings of both the technical and operating committees to discuss work program results and determine whether the Teremia North field is a commercial discovery. At the operating committee meeting held

 

February 8, 2021 NIS voted that there was a commercial discovery at Teremia North whereas the Company voted that there was not a commercial discovery. The field economics were, in the Company’s assessment, marginal and did not merit the significant capital contributions required. NIS, being a vertically integrated oil and gas producer, could support the development costs given the internal economies available.

 

Without a joint declaration of a commercial discovery it is the Company’s position that commercial development of the field cannot proceed, NIS did not share this opinion. Rather than litigating this issue the discussions continued with NIS in an attempt to find a way forward. Given the consequences of a commercial discovery decision and significant funding obligations the Company and NIS continued negotiations on all available options including a monetization event. Negotiations were progressing well and the parties were moving towards final documentation with essential terms of a monetization event agreed, being some limited cash and a royalty interest.

 

The outbreak of war between Ukraine and Russian brought all attempts to implement the agreed terms to a halt, with the issue being that NIS is owned, in part, by a Russian entity which is subject to sanctions. The Company is considering what steps could be implemented to allow the transaction to proceed.

 

Total sales revenues decreased by 39%, from $644,832 in Q3/2022 to $396,309 in Q4/2022 primarily due to a 54% decrease in sales volume, from 6,681 BOE in Q3/2022 compared to 3,067 BOE in Q4/2022. The decrease in sales volume is primarily due to the Cheal E-5 well being shut-in for repairs during Q4/2022.

 

Total sales revenues increased by $37,091 from $359,218 in Q4/2021 to $396,309 in Q4/2022. The increase is primarily attributed to the increase in the average realized price per BOE from $71.96 in Q4/2021 to $129.22 in Q4/2022.

 

The Company’s share of expected exploration and development permit obligations and/or commitments as at March 31, 2022 are approximately $660,000 to be incurred during fiscal 2023 and $16,000 over the next five years. The Company may choose to alter the program, request extensions, reject development costs, relinquish certain permits or farm-out its interest in permits where practical.